The data collected show the existence of significant imbalances and reinforce the need to develop a new monitoring on innovation with a gender perspective, which helps to monitor the situation and the progress and measures promoted.
The report was presented this Monday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, in an act in which the minister, Pedro Duque participated. The General Secretary of Innovation, Teresa Riesgo, has been in charge of presenting the conclusions of this work and has given way to a discussion table, in which the researcher of the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) Montserrat Calleja, the President of IBM Spain, Marta Martínez, and MEP Lina Gálvez.
The report shows the existence of imbalances in the presence of women in the science and innovation sectors and thus reinforces the need to continue promoting measures that effectively end the obstacles to the full professional development of women in these fields.
In his presentation, Minister Pedro Duque explained that, in order to change this situation, it is important to promote the vocation of girls for careers called STEM, especially in the area of engineering, and has stressed the urgency of ending the cost of Motherhood for researchers.
After approving in 2019 the Royal Decree-Law of urgent measures in the field of Science, Technology, Innovation and the University, which allowed maternity situations not to penalize the selection and evaluation processes in the calls for projects I + D, the minister has opted to continue on this path to eliminate obstacles in the professional career of women.
Being the first of a new series of reports, the objective has been to conduct a survey of the available data and incorporate recommendations for future reports. Thus, and in the absence of data in innovation surveys, the report has collected and analyzed information, mostly unpublished, related to entrepreneurship and human resources, innovation financing programs, exchange and knowledge transfer and composition activities of decision-making bodies.
The report shows that, according to INE data, although the total number of human resources in Science and Technology is made up of 49% of men and 51% of women, in the high and medium-high technology (AyMAT) sectors, The percentages change:
- Total population employed in AyMAT sectors: 74% of men and 26% of women.
- Total full-time R&D staff in AyMAT sectors: 69% of men and 31% of women.
- Total research staff, full-time, in AyMAT sectors: 69% of men and 31% of women
In the chapter on entrepreneurship and business management, the INE data show that the total of entrepreneurs with salaried personnel is made up of 68% of men and 32% of women, while entrepreneurship without salaried personnel constitute 64% of men and 36% women. However, in the legal representation of companies that have the seal of 'innovative SME' (2,231 to November 7, 2019), 86% are men and 14% are women.
Access to resources and programs to promote innovation and entrepreneurship also shows important inequalities: in companies financed by the Center for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI), 23% are women compared to 77% men. The percentage rises, for women, in the areas of food industry (36% women) and decreases, however, in the manufacturing of machinery, up to 11.6%.
In companies financed by programs of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism the situation is similar. According to data from this Ministry accumulated for the 2014-2018 period, in these companies there are 19% women and 81% men. The data also show that in 2017 and 2018 the gap between male and female employment in financed companies increases.
By more funded area, the percentage of women rises in the graphic arts (33%) and the leather and footwear industry (39%) and falls when talking about their presidencies (7%) and government boards (14%) .
Meanwhile, the analysis of aid programs for Technological Health Development (DTS) projects of the Carlos III Health Institute indicates that, in 2018, 74% of the admitted projects were led by men. In addition, it reflects that, on average, men request 7% more funding and get 13% more than women.
In the chapter on knowledge exchange and transfer, the data shows that in scientific production and in patents, Spain is above the EU average. In scientific production, the data of the European Commission for the 2013-2017 period show that in Spain 41% is of female authorship, while in the EU average the percentage is 37.5%. As regards patents, according to these data, in the same period, there are 16.7% of women among the first inventors, when the EU average is 9.10%.
On the other hand, the data on the personnel that participate in research projects show that 43% of the professors who participate in research are women, a percentage that falls to 35.2% when talking about knowledge transfer activities. In the CSIC, 36% of its workforce are women and 23% participate in knowledge transfer.
The study of participation in decision-making bodies on innovation in 2018 shows that there is balance in the composition of the majority of the commissions for the selection of calls for assistance to innovation and reindustrialization projects
recommendations
The report concludes with a chapter of recommendations, which are aimed at proposing that the monitoring of innovation and the policies for its promotion incorporate the inclusion of data related to people and, therefore, the participation of women and men. In addition, it suggests that specific studies be launched on various aspects of innovation, to advance knowledge.
As the minister points out in the presentation of the report, the objective is to respond to the double challenge of having more information to prepare this type of analysis, normalizing the inclusion of sex / gender indicators in all the information that is prepared for monitoring and evaluation of activities, entities, policies and results of innovation; and, on the other hand, that the identified gender gaps are gradually closed until full equality is achieved.
The Women, Science and Innovation Observatory was created in the Council of Ministers on November 23, 2018 with the objective of analyzing the situation of women in the field of research and innovation, promoting the realization of public policies and actions of equality of gender and promote the improvement of the situation of women in the Spanish system of Science, Technology and Innovation.
